Geographic range.—Breeds in northern Eurasia. Winters in Mediterranean area, Africa, southern Asia, Malaysia, Australia and Melanesia. In Micronesia: Palau Islands—Peleliu; Caroline Islands—Yap, Truk.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 4 (1 male, 3 females) from Palau Islands, USNM—Peleliu (Aug. 28, Sept. 14, 15).
Remarks.—The Greenshank has been recorded at the Palau Islands and at Yap and Truk in the Caroline Islands. It is apparently a regular visitor to western Micronesia. It probably reaches the western Carolines as an occasional visitor from the region of the Palaus to the westward, rather than from the northward, since the bird has not been observed in the Marianas.
The NAMRU2 party observed two small flocks of these birds at Peleliu in August and September, 1945. One group of six birds was found wading in the shallow water of a mangrove swamp on August 28. Another group of three birds was seen on a tidal beach on September 14 and 15, where they were observed feeding apart from other species of shore birds.
Tringa melanoleuca (Gmelin)
Greater Yellow-legs
Scolopax melanoleuca Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 659. (Type locality, Sandy shores of Labrador = Chateau Bay, Labrador.)
Tringa melanoleuca Kuroda, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 46, 1934, p. 313 (Jaluit); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 214 (Jaluit).
Geographic range.—Breeds in Alaska and Canada. Winters from California east to the Gulf States and the West Indies and south to South America. In Micronesia: Marshall Islands—Jaluit.
Remarks.—Kuroda records one specimen of the Greater Yellow-legs from Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It is a straggler to Oceania and has not been recorded in the Hawaiian Islands.